Change must be led by the people

Change must be led by the people

Milton Wong tours the Downtown Eastside, pointing out his old haunts. Wong, a strong believer in the role of the arts in community building, believes the area needs to develop a community plan with input from residents.Photo by
Arlen Redekop

Milton Wong walks down Hastings Street in the Downtown Eastside, hands in pockets, looking comfortable in the rough neighbourhood.

It is, after all, his old haunt.

"Here's where the old tramway to New West stopped," says the 70-year-old financier and philanthropist outside the Centre A art gallery on the corner of Hastings and Carrall.

A couple of blocks down, an art gallery next door to First United Church used to be his barber, while a derelict, boarded-up storefront on Powell used to belong to a Strathcona Secondary schoolmate.

A nine-year-old Wong used to deliver The Province all over Gastown, Oppenheimer and further east to Strathcona.

And Modernize, his family tailor shop at 5 West Pender, which opened in 1913 and is still in business, used to store suitcases for loggers heading to forestry jobs in the summer.

Walking around the Downtown Eastside with Wong is like going on a tour of history, as he views the morass of problems the neighbourhood faces today in comparison to the thriving, working-class enclave it was before -- but also getting a glimpse of Utopia, as he talks about the hope he has for its future.

Outside United We Can, where the sidewalk is a teeming mass of people buying and selling items from carts, bags and blankets along with a few openly conducted drug deals, Wong stops.

"This area here is common space," he says. "We should all be embarrassed about what's happening here. The Downtown Eastside isn't just the Downtown Eastside's problem. It's everyone's responsibility."

-

Despite moving out of the neighbourhood as a teenager, Wong continues to be a stalwart champion, lending his considerable clout and financial heft to its revitalization.

A strong believer in the role of the arts in stabilizing and re-energizing communities, he donated $3 million to Simon Fraser University's School of Contemporary Arts at Woodward's and was a co-founder of the Heart of the City arts festival (along with former Carnegie Centre director Michael Clague).

His voice turns impassioned as he talks about the series of disastrous government policies that have devastated the community, such as the internment of 20,000 Japanese-Canadians during World War II; the refusal of city hall to let residents renovate their homes, designating the area as slums in the 1950s (which led to his family moving out to Cambie, near Queen Elizabeth Park); public policy that concentrated poverty, prostitution and drug abuse in the area; and the deinstitutionalization of mentally ill patients in the 1980s without subsequent provision of care.

That's why Wong believes the solutions for the Downtown Eastside's social woes aren't going to come from government, but from its residents and from society as a whole.

Wong is calling for a "community corporation" to be put in place that would oversee the neighbourhood's development based on a community plan drafted with real input from residents.

"We've got to allow and develop an approach where there is organic growth . . .and allow people living there now to develop and improve themselves if they so desire," says Wong.

"If everyone participates in the process, then they will begin to feel a sense of ownership of it."

Two years ago, Wong and longtime ally Clague formed the Building Community Society, which supports renewal by helping existing organizations achieve their goals.

It's mostly made up of volunteers who are experts in their field, including former premier Mike Harcourt, former city planning directors Ray Spaxman and Larry Beasley and Tim Pringle of the Real Estate Foundation.

"What we're bringing to the table is our knowledge, our organizational skills, our connections," said Wong. "You've got to have the right people with the right passion."

Clague said its role is to help secure funding and provide in-kind legal, planning and management advice.

"We try to be attached to projects that are multipurpose. It's not just about providing housing, but contributing to community renewal as well."

The society doesn't plan on hanging around forever, but has set itself an end date of another two to three years.

It has lent its support to two projects: a planned expansion of the First United Church and the renovation of the Aboriginal Mother Centre to include 16 units of transitional housing for aboriginal mothers and their kids.

It is also advocating for a local network planning program that would ensure that community plans for the Downtown Eastside and neighbouring areas of Gastown, Chinatown and Strathcona develop in a mutually supportive manner.

But getting consensus from the many groups with opposing ideologies operating in the area can be a challenge, says Wong. Some are wary of perceived outsiders, while others only want to serve a specific constituency.

Wong doesn't have a problem with gentrification, but only so long as it's done respectfully, occurs without displacement and stabilizes the community. "Less-wealthy people have a right, they have an actual right, to this space as well. You cannot and should not arbitrarily cause them to move out."

Wong says there's money being poured into the Downtown Eastside -- a Province investigation found nearly $1 million a day is spent in the area -- but while most goes towards welfare-rent payments or health services for vulnerable residents, a substantial portion can be traced back to the salaries of social workers, doctors and nurses who don't live or spend discretionary money there.

"There's no multiplier effect," he said. "We have to develop economic activities so the money begins to circulate. There are some signs of it, but not enough."

Hiring locally is key, says Wong, as well as building up businesses and services outside of the monolith of poverty and its surrounding social services.

Another solution should be to develop a sense of a social contract, no matter how small, between the Downtown Eastside and other neighbourhoods, including next-door Strathcona and the wealthier areas of Kerrisdale and Dunbar.

A social contract should also be encouraged between individuals, such as between the homeless man who'd sweep the sidewalk in exchange for a bowl of soup instead of just receiving a handout, stresses Wong.

"We have to develop shared values and a common set of rules so we can co-ordinate and trust one another," he says. "But it gets down to, how do you establish that sort of idea of unconditional love for humanity?"

Back on Hastings, Wong sees hopeful signs of progress amidst the misery.

He peers into yet another soon-to-open art gallery and smiles. At the next block is The Lux, a 92-unit housing complex recently renovated by the province.

"Now that's improvement, right? And it's for people living here."

Wong believes it's civil society and not government that should step up to help the Downtown Eastside.

"I really think we should get the private sector . . . particularly our churches, to build up a volunteer society," he says. "I know it sounds idealistic, but that's the only way it can be effective. With the passion, you know?"

Homelessness is always going to be present in society, says Wong, so what he wants is to find a permanent way that society can be there for those who have fallen through the cracks.

"We have to develop, all of us, unconditional love for humanity as an attitude. If we do that, then we'll be passionate about finding ways to solve the problem."

Related Posts

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.